Nothing New Under the Moon
by khughes830
Summary: Kendall and Zach reflect on Thanksgiving. After the kiss but before she throws the ring off the roof.
1. Chapter 1

**Nothing New Under the Moon**

**A/N: **This is my first AMC fic. I have been rivited by Kendall and Zach over the last few weeks and this popped into my head this afternoon. Please be kind if you review. I have just started writing FF and usually only write Josh and Donna/West Wing stuff (I am very familiar with them and that show - I've just started back into religiously watching AMC). Enjoy!

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She sat there on the bench, staring up at the moon. She was still reeling from the Thanksgiving fiasco and Greenlee leaving town and now Zach had…

She couldn't even wrap her head around it, not now. It was all too much for her, but she seemed to be feeling that a lot recently when it came to Zach Slater. She couldn't pinpoint it or put an exact date on when this had started. She had married him to help Bianca and Miranda, to get back at Ethan for being a bastard, and to protect herself… from life and love and whatever other excuse she had come up with at the time, none of which she could remember now, sitting in the park, staring at the moon.

So he'd fallen for her… so he was in love with her. Now what? Was she in love with him too? More than likely, but she wasn't going to let her brain get that far. Did he want a real marriage now? Did she?

'It's too much' she thought to herself as she pulled her coat tighter around her body. She knew she should go home, get out of the cold and out of the park this late at night.

It was moments like this, when her mind was elsewhere that the kiss would come back to her. His confession and, what seemed to be, heartfelt words and that kiss… just thinking about it made her weak. She had imagined for weeks what it would be like to kiss him, to have his hands on her face, in her hair, on her waist as she molded herself as best she could to his body. She had thought about what his lips would feel like on hers. She was surprised at how reverent he was – like he was savoring every moment, just like she had. She wondered what would have happened if she hadn't pulled back, if she had ran her fingers though his hair and deepened the kiss. She wondered if he would have…

"I need to stop this. This is NOT happening" she said out loud to no one in particular. Her world had been so normal yesterday – well, as normal as life in Pine Valley could be if you were a Kane woman, but now, it was like a whole new world under this moon she had spent the better part of an hour staring at.

She started walking home, knowing her the back of her mind what she needed to do. She needed to move on. She needed to divorce this man before another moment passed. She wouldn't get hurt again. Ryan, Ethan, Greenlee – they had all let her down and crushed her over the last year and she was tired. She knew she had to protect herself first and foremost. She was surprised that she felt sad at the thought of actually going through with a divorce from Zach, but it had to be done.

As she started to open the door to her condo, she glanced across the courtyard toward where Zach was. For a moment, she wanted to go over there and throw herself into his arms and finish what had been started earlier in the evening, but she quashed that feeling as soon as it had arrived in her head. She stared up at the moon again, not knowing that she was being watched from the dark window across the courtyard. She made a silent promise to the moon that, starting tomorrow, she would start getting over Zach Slater before things got any worse. She stole one more glance at his door before going inside her home.

THE END


	2. Chapter 2

**_See disclaimer and other info in chapter one. Several have requested for me to continue - glad you all like it. Hope you feel the same about this chapter. R and R!_**

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He stood in the shadows, watching her enter her apartment. He could just kick himself for doing the one thing that he promised himself he would never do again, but she was so vulnerable, sitting there in the doorway of her condo that he had to let her know that someone was on her side.

He's not sure what caused him to do it, to kiss her and confess… well, everything. He knew he had to do something. They all had turned on her and she felt she was alone. He knew what that felt like and never would wish that on anyone, least of all her, this woman that had stolen his heart before he knew what was happening.

He had thought that he found the real thing with Maria, but he had been dead wrong about that, as he stood in the hospital, that day as she lay unconscious. He confessed everything to her, knowing that he meant it from down in the depths of his soul.

He had been holding back for weeks, trying to keep his distance so he didn't give in to the one urge he had been having, but holding her while she cried – it all became too much, so he gave in and kissed her. Holding her in his arms, all he wanted to do is to keep the world at bay for a little while, to make her feel that there was some hope left. He remembered every sensation, every feeling he had in those few seconds. She fit perfectly into his arms. He knew she would, so he wasn't surprised when she did. All rational thought left his head in that moment. All he wanted to do was take her to her bedroom and lock the rest of the world out, but she pulled back and told him no. That one little world crushed him more than she could ever know. He had thought there was a chance for the two of them, that they could make a go of this and have a real marriage with real love in both of their lives, but she didn't want him – that she made perfectly clear.

"I won't force her into anything she doesn't want" he said to an empty room. He flipped on the lamp and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.

"It's Slater. I need a first class ticket to…"

As Zach made the plans to give her what she wanted, she watched him from her front window, wondering if he was having these same thoughts and feelings.


	3. Chapter 3

**_A/N: _See disclaimer in chapter one. I wasn't really going to do another chapter, but the 12/15 ep really just... well, let's just say it made me very, very, very, very, very mad. So, I decided to do something TPTB don't seem to want to do (sorry if you are a Ryan fan, but BLAH!) OK, I'm better now, so enjoy!**

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She's not sure what even caused her to do it. Watching him through the window, talking on the phone of all things – it almost became too much for her. Before she was really aware of what she was doing, she was across the courtyard and knocking on the door.

He threw open the door and gave her a once over, which made her heart flutter.

"Kendall, are you alright? Is something wrong? Do you need…"

She held up her hand. "Just… Zach, just be quiet for a second, alright?"

He nodded his head and stared at her.

She stared at him for a moment and walked into his condo. He shut the door and turned to see her doing laps around his couch and coffee table.

"Kendall, really, is there something…"

She stopped walking and held up her hand again and he was immediately silent.

So, he just watched her. He hadn't lied to her when he said he found himself unable to take his eyes off of her. It was like every time she moved, she was doing something he had never witnessed before, so he just had to watch. Even now, as she lapped his condo in her tank top and pajama bottoms, he was riveted by the way she moved.

He smirked and leaned back against his front door, knowing she would talk when she was ready to.

After a few minutes and a countless number of laps around his small living room, she finally stopped and looked at him.

"I've been… it's just… I've tried to think and think and think… I went for a walk to see if the fresh air would clear my head. It didn't. I tried a hot shower, praying that would work. It didn't. My apartment felt too small, so I came over here."

He gave her a confused look. "Ok?"

She looked at him for a moment before doing another lap around the couch.

She stopped in front of him and looked at him hard for a moment before speaking again.

"You love me. You say you love me… after everything you learned today… about me and how my family feels about me, yet you say that you love me after all that. What am I supposed to do with that information?"

She stared at him for a moment.

"Oh, sorry, I can talk now?"

"Zach, really…"

"Kendall, I just thought you need to know. It can mean whatever you want. After everything that happened at the Valley Inn today… well… umm… I just wanted you to know that someone was on your side. I know that your intentions were honorable and nothing but pure. I'm sorry that Greenlee couldn't see that, but I do… I know what kind of heart you have. I do love you, Kendall that I mean from the bottom of my heart. But, again, there is no pressure. You are going to have people coming at you from all directions, pressuring you to do this and that. But not me. I'm here to just be here for you as whatever you want – a husband, an ex-husband, a friend, a protector, a money source…" He was glad that made her smile a bit. "…whatever. I just… I just wanted you to know… I just thought you should know where I stand. That's all."

She had a slight smile on her face. Zach wasn't real sure how to read it, but any kind of smile was better than no smile at all, that he knew.

She looked him up and down a couple of times before looking him the eyes again.

"Anything I want?"

"What?"

"You said that your confession can mean whatever I want it to mean."

His mouth suddenly went dry and all he could do was nodded at her.

She looked him up and down again before smiling at him brightly. "Well, alright then…"

And before he knew what was happening, she had her arms wrapped around his neck and was kissing him.

This kiss was nothing like the kiss they had shared earlier in the day. She was no longer hesitant. She held nothing back with this kiss.

The rest of the world seemed to melt away as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. He let out a soft moan as she deepened the kiss and ran her fingers through his hair. He pulled her in tighter and lifted her up off the ground, ever so slightly.

When the need for oxygen became a necessity, they broke apart, but just barely.

"Kendall, I don't…

"Zach, you said whatever. You said that you were here for me and were on my side. You are the only person to ever tell me they were on my side 100 percent, no questions asked. That means more to me right now than you can ever know. And I feel… I feel things for you too, Zach, things that I seem to have trouble putting into words right now, but believe me, those feelings are there and they are strong."

"I believe you" he said in a whisper, as he kissed her jaw line.

"Oh god" she moaned as her head lolled back, giving him more access to her neck.

He stopped and pulled her up to his eye level.

"Kendall, what do you want?"

She sighed and smiled at him. "I want you to lock that door and keep the rest of the world out for a little while."

He smiled back at her. "Anything else?"

"You're a smart man, Mr. Slater. I'm sure you can think of something."

Slowly, he lowered her back to the floor and flipped the deadbolt with his left hand. Kendall reached over and flipped off the small lap that had lit the room. Now, they were locked in, from the rest of the world, with just the moonlight lighting their way. He wrapped his left arm back around her.

"Now what, Mrs. Slater?"

Just hearing that phrase come out of his mouth made her want him more. She assaulted his mouth again and he lifted her back off the ground. This time she wrapped her legs around his waist as he maneuvered the two of them through the condo to his bedroom.

As he kicked the bedroom door shut and laid her out on the bed, he knew that there would be no divorce and that a new relationship, one that neither one of them thought was possible, had come into full bloom under the moon tonight, and for that, he would be forever grateful.


End file.
